Neutrals of course chafed under these exactions; but the year 1761 was ill-chosen for an armed protest, and of all powers Spain risked most by a war.
— from The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 by A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan

And, to comfort me in my distress in that time, two of the sailors robbed me of all my money, and ran away from the ship.
— from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African Written By Himself by Olaudah Equiano

The taste of this powder strongly reminded me of quinine.
— from Roughing It in the Bush by Susanna Moodie

If I draw less, I shall read more; if I give up music, I shall take to carpet-work.
— from Emma by Jane Austen

With a noble frankness which a slight shade of shame rendered more interesting, Henriette confirmed the truth of her friend’s narrative, but she begged me to tell him that she could not grant his wish respecting the adventures of her life.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

She finally responded and, in the course of her remarks, said that when she was a teacher she used to believe that women should receive the same salary as men, but since she had married and realized the responsibilities of a man of family, she had been converted to the belief that men should receive more than women.
— from The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2) Including Public Addresses, Her Own Letters and Many From Her Contemporaries During Fifty Years by Ida Husted Harper

Some readers may have noticed that late at night a gas-jet, which a few hours before burned with a somewhat feeble flame when the tap was turned fully on, now becomes more and more vigorous, and finally may flare up with a hissing sound.
— from How it Works Dealing in simple language with steam, electricity, light, heat, sound, hydraulics, optics, etc., and with their applications to apparatus in common use by Archibald Williams

ā mē gestārum , L. 38, 47, 4, the very men whom I was to call to bear witness to my deeds, if the tribunes should refuse me a triumph .
— from A Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges by George Martin Lane

Well, then, let yonder shaggy rock mid-deep in the surf—see!
— from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne

It seems to have been constructed as much for comfort as for show: the same remark may be applied to Fig. 4 , which certainly cannot be recommended for its beauty, being a stunted cone, with a back veil closely fitting about the neck, and very sparingly ornamented; it was worn by Mary, wife of John Rolestone, who died in 1485.
— from Dress as a Fine Art, with Suggestions on Children's Dress by Mary P. (Mary Philadelphia) Merrifield

The twilight had become thick by the time she reached Marmion and paused for an instant in front of her house, over which the elms that stood on the grassy wayside appeared to her to hang a blacker curtain than ever before.
— from The Bostonians, Vol. II (of II) by Henry James

Thousands of the poor people of New York read and believed this man's preposterous screed, and were thus made unhappy and miserable, and by mental suggestion rendered more liable to the attacks of disease than they would [41] have been had these foolish words never been penned.
— from Living the Radiant Life: A Personal Narrative by George Wharton James

Not very favorably impressed by this display of open if not insulting indifference on the part of the sole remaining Moore,—an indifference which did not appear quite natural even in a man of his morbid eccentricity,—I resolved to know more of this old man and, above all, to make myself fully acquainted with the exact relations which had existed between him and his unhappy niece.
— from The Filigree Ball Being a full and true account of the solution of the mystery concerning the Jeffrey-Moore affair by Anna Katharine Green

She regretted much of her pessimism, however, when she gave the news to the girls.
— from The Story Book Girls by Christina Gowans Whyte

They then proceeded to question the girl, and to all of their questions she returned modest replies; after they were satisfied they bade her unrobe, which she did with some little hesitancy.
— from The Romance of the Harem by Anna Harriette Leonowens

The reason was that several of their most influential preachers, Barton W. Stone, Robert Marshall, John Dunlavy, Richard McNemar and John Thompson, began preaching certain schisms, contrary to Calvinism.
— from Voices; Birth-Marks; The Man and the Elephant by Mathew Joseph Holt